Flyers soar for Gregory

Even though Dayton struggled mightily to eke past Auburn in overtime Friday, Marquette coach Buzz Williams knew his No. 15 Golden Eagles were in for a battle when they faced Dayton on Saturday in the finals of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

After romping past Northern Iowa to set up the showdown of undefeated teams, Williams told anyone who would listen to watch out for this Flyers bunch.

He said they were fast. He was right.

He said they were talented. Check.

And he said they were deep. Uh, yeah.

And it was precisely the depth on coach Brian Gregory's squad that proved the difference as the Flyers' reserves outscored Marquette's bench 48-5 to key an 89-75 upset victory at the Sears Centre.

"We play 12 guys, and people keep asking, 'Can you do that?'" Gregory said. "It's been different guys every night."

On Saturday, it was quick-as-a-cat backup guard Rob Lowery (21 points) and starting power forward Chris Wright (13 points, 13 rebounds) leading the way for Dayton (6-0).

"We're going to have one or two guys score some points, and everyone else is going to get 6 to 8 points, and that's who we are," said Gregory, a graduate of Hersey High School. "Our guys are good with that."

It's a different story for Marquette.

"We don't have 11 guys," said Williams, whose team fell to 5-1. "They're long, they're athletic - a really good team."

Wesley Matthews paced the Golden Eagles with a game-high 28 points. Dominic James finished with 19 and Jerel McNeal added 16, but this night belonged to Gregory, who was savoring his homecoming victory.

"It means a lot; I'm not going to lie," Gregory said. "Twenty-three years ago I was some snot-nosed point guard playing for Hersey. And tonight I had a lot of family and friends here, and we played our butts off for them."

• In earlier action Saturday, Chicago State guard David Holston kept up his remarkable play with a 31-point performance, but it wasn't enough as the Cougars fell 88-77 to Mercer.

• Jacobs High School product Johnny Moran had 13 points in Northern Iowa's 67-61 win over Auburn.